Nadine Feldman, Author

celebrating strong female characters and whatever else strikes my fancy

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Finding Printers

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The layout to Patchwork and Ornament is coming along really well. I’m about to add the various color images, photographs of Jenny Feldman’s art. I have enough done to know how many pages the final product will be — 168 including front and back matter — so I’m in the process of getting quotes. While I’m at it, I’m also getting quotes to reprint my first book, because I’m almost out of stock and need to figure out what to do with it.

The world has changed in the past ten years since I self-published my first book. We can get quotes online instantly from all over the world. I’ve been told that color books such as P&O are best printed in China, so I’m looking into it, but we’ll see. Apparently Canada and Italy fit somewhere in the middle of the pricing spectrum.With digital printing options, I can get small print runs (1,000 or less) done fairly quickly and easily in the good ol’ USA–but the prices may be a lot higher.

When pricing a book, one has to take into consideration the discounts to wholesalers and distributors. Amazon, for example, gets a 55% discount. If you’re going to use a distributor and/or fulfillment center (both good ideas), deduct even more. When I published my first book, I priced it too low, making my book an unintended non-profit project. If my print costs are too high, then I could conceivably price my book out of the market. It’s a tricky business.

I’ll pass along the price comparisons once I have them. In these tough economic times, I’d love to support American business.

Doing and Not Doing

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The past month has been crazy as I prepared for the Agents’ and Editors’ conference, but I came back fired up from all that time with fellow writers.  I plowed into my current projects: revising, laying out, and organizing. I set up my calender for the next several months.

I love when I get that much energy and fire to do my work. However, I also know that to be most effective, I need to take a certain amount of time off. Otherwise, I get burned out, cranky, and obnoxious (well, more than usual).

A few days ago we hopped a plane and are visiting family in Illinois. We are away from the searing Texas heat, and the pace of our visit allows us a lot of downtime.

Somewhere deep in the recesses of my brain, neurons are firing, solving problems with manuscripts, thinking about changes to the layout, and dreaming of new writing. I know that when I get home, rested and refreshed, I will have new and better ideas for my work. It never fails.

For me personally, part of being a writer has been to give up my Puritanical work ethic and to focus more on flowing with the writing. I value my ability to be consistent and organized–these qualities keep me on track. But cultivating the qualities of pacing, rest, and gentleness will make the writing I do better and more pleasurable.

A Bad Day Writing is Better Than a Good Day Doing Anything Else

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Today I printed a draft layout of Patchwork and Ornament. Taken from the journals and writings of my late mother-in-law, Jenny Feldman, P&O details her life from growing up in the South Bronx during the Depression, to her life as an artist and world traveler.

While I have a ways to go before it’s ready to go to print, I get goosebumps looking at the work. I am totally in love with it, not just because I love the author but because I think it’s really good.

Last year I left my corporate job with the intention of taking a year off to write. At the end of that year, my husband and I decided to extend my hiatus indefinitely, and each day I head to my writing area by about 8:00 a.m. and go to work. As with any job, some days I don’t want to do it. Some days the writing doesn’t go well, or I wonder if I will ever learn to write at all.

But today, when I look at the draft and see how far it’s come in a short time, I am filled with a satisfaction and joy that I find nowhere else. In these moments, just as after childbirth, I forget the pain and gaze with wonder at this new creation.

Writing can be isolating, lonely, and discouraging at times. We work hard, sometimes for years, and the work doesn’t always see the printed light of day. Even if it does, it may not sell. Still, I accept this life because of these magical moments, when everything comes together, and I feel like I know who I am.